The Brexit vote was carried by 27% of the population, or 37% of the electorate slightly fewer voted for Remain the opinion of the rest of us is unknown. Hillary Clinton’s slogan turned out not to be so strong. Except they, and it, are purely imaginary. As Theresa May said again this month: “The British people, the majority of the British people, voted to leave the European Union.” The “people” voted now the supposed “will of the people” must be respected.
This singular “British people” has come into peculiar focus since the Brexit vote. The three judges who ruled on the Article 50 challenge were called “enemies of the people” by the Daily Mail, while the Telegraph spoke of “the judges against the British people”, even though the decision defended British citizens’ right to parliamentary representation against the arbitrary exercise of executive power. But they can also deceive.Īs another example, we hear a lot about “the British people” these days. It is striking how often Trump deployed the frames of beauty, happiness and optimism: “You’re going to be so happy you’re going to be so proud,” he would beam, even as he curried favour with racists. In the language of political discourse analysis, greatness and strength are both examples of a frame: a guiding metaphor or image for a political argument. His can-do slogan of renewed domestic glory – “Make America Great Again” – won over Hillary Clinton’s … well, what was hers, again? Oh, yes, “Stronger Together” – which met exactly the same fate as the Remain campaign’s insipid “Stronger In”.
And they did so because Trump is a brilliant and careful rhetorician. His campaigning speeches were just “word salad”, people chuckled. D onald Trump has done pretty well for someone ridiculed by most of the liberal media as an incoherent babbler.
0 kommentar(er)
